These MENA startups raised almost $215 million in funding this October across these 18 rounds! 10 out of these startups are Egyptian based, 4 are Saudi-based and the remainder 4 are UAE-based. 

Saudi Arabia’s Zid led this October’s rounds and raised $50 million in a Series B funding round led by IMPACT46. Followed by Egypt’s e-commerce startup MaxAB was able to raise $40 million in a pre-series B funding round. Egypt’s MoneyFellows raised $31 million in a Series B funding round and UAE’s VUZ raised $20 million in a Series B round.

Egypt’s FinTech startup Telda raised $20 million in a seed funding round, 7 out of the 18 startups this October were FinTech startups.

“Over the last 12 months, we have seen a large shift in capital allocation from blue chip investors towards more emerging market deals. Specifically, FinTech companies within Egypt and the region at large have been able to attract large institutional investors in a high-interest environment. One of their main driving forces is the defensibility of having a low cost of labor to be able to service a large population that is not yet penetrated,” Mazen Nadim, Managing Partner at Foundation Ventures, said.

Both Saudi’s ZenHR and UAE’s invygo raised $10 million each, ZenHR raised the funds in a growth fund while invygo raised it in a Series A round. Egypt’s Trella raised $6 million in debt financing from ALMA Sustainable Finance.

FinTech startups NearPay and FlapKap both raised $3.6 million this month, Saudi’s NearPay raised the funds in a pre-Series A round, and FlapKap raised it in a seed round.

“The high inflation and interest environment drive larger revenue streams for these FinTech companies as they will be able to tap into credit, float, and transaction-based revenue which is more resistant to macroeconomic conditions than other industries. These tailwinds allow them to grow substantially faster than other industries and get to scale on a more sustainable path. This has even driven large B2B marketplaces to start building fintech arms that can capture the high GMV that passes through them as new revenue streams. I expect this pattern to continue and allow for more embedded fintech solutions to drive growth in these companies and provide higher LTV and exponential revenue potential,” Nadim added to his conversation with us.

Egypt’s e-commerce platform Kenzz raised $3.5 million in a seed round and Foundation Ventures was one of the investors that participated in the seed round.

UAE FinTech startups Five FS and Cashee raised $3.5 million and 3 million in that order. Five FS is launching its operations in both the UAE and Saudi Arabia and Cashee is also expanding to Saudi Arabia with plans to enter the Egyptian market in 2023. Egypt’s FinTech startup Nexta also raised $3 million in funding from e-Finance.

Egypt’s KarmSolar raised $1.9 million in funding from QNB. Saudi’s Tachyon raised $1.6 million in a pre-seed round, Egypt’s i’Supply raised $1.5 million in a pre-seed round and Egypt’s Glamera raised $1.3 million in a pre-seed round.